Shah's daughter found dead of overdose in London hotel

By Neil Tweedie and Thomas Harding

12:00AM BST 12 Jun 2001

PRINCESS Leila Pahlavi, youngest child of the late Shah of Iran, has been found dead in a London hotel after apparently taking an overdose.

The princess, who lived in America, was found dead by staff at the Leonard Hotel in the West End on Sunday evening. She was 31. Yesterday, her brother, Reza Pahlavi, the elder son of the Shah and heir to the Peacock Throne, refused to confirm the cause of death.

In a statement released from his office in Virginia, he said: "It brings me enormous pain and deep sorrow to announce the tragic passing away of my beloved sister Princess Leila Pahlavi after a lengthy illness."

No details of the nature of the illness were given and the office refused to provide details. Police are investigating the possibility that she took an overdose of sleeping pills, but were awaiting the results of toxicology tests and a post mortem examination last night.

Princess Leila, who was unmarried, was the youngest of the Shah's five children, and the fourth child of his third wife, Queen Farah. Born in Teheran in 1970, she appeared destined for a life of opulence and privilege. But nine years later she was forced to flee Iran with her family when her father was deposed in the Islamic revolution.

Following the Shah's death from cancer in 1980, the family settled in America and Leila enjoyed a relatively normal existence, being educated at the state Pine Cobble School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, near the family home.

She graduated from the Ivy League Brown University in 1992, and spent much of her time commuting between America and Europe, with no apparent need for work. She and her family continued to command a degree of loyalty among exiled Iranians. Last year, she joined her mother and brother in a ceremony at her father's tomb in Cairo to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death.

The extent of the dynasty's wealth is a source of mystery. The Shah was said to have salted away $10 billion in foreign accounts before his removal, but the Queen, who maintains an office in New York, has dismissed such figures.

Princess Leila spent much of the year staying at the Leonard Hotel, near Marble Arch. She paid £450 a night for her favourite suite. Angela Stoppani, the hotel manager, said the princess would visit London at the hotel to "chill out". She was never seen with any friends.

Miss Stoppani said: "Miss Pahlavi was a lovely lady and always friendly, kind and polite to staff. Her death came as a great shock to us all when she passed away on Sunday. It was very upsetting. Our sympathies go to her family."

In an interview in America, Princess Leila said she missed Iran but enjoyed the anonymity of exile. She said that although she had not set foot on Iranian soil since 1979, she often visited the country in her dreams. She said: "There's one dream as scary as hell. I'm in the palace and I'm not supposed to be there. If someone catches me I could have my head cut off."

She said she no longer craved the privileges of royal life. "When you've been through what we have, formality isn't what counts." Two years ago, the princess was considering buying a home in London, but was stopped by the thought of her dogs going into quarantine. Despite the repressiveness of her father's regime, she remained loyal to his memory. A bust of the Shah dominated her living room